Fanning the Flames
by laurelsblue
Summary: She was more than just a mother. 10 truths about Mikoto, with cameos by Minato, Kushina, and Fugaku.


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Fanning the Flames

1. No one is quite sure why Jiraiya was allowed to have a kunoichi on his team. This is the real evidence that genin teams are not the carefully thought out balance of personalities and strengths the teachers say they are but rather a product of too many cups of coffee, late nights, and a distracted Hokage. Whatever the reason, the future Uchiha Mikoto was taught by the most perverted of the Sannin. (This is a disputed title. Jiraiya claims it but more neutral parties think it could equally apply to Orochimaru.)

2. Her first meeting with the man she would marry went well. His sensei, Mitarashi Hanami, had come to discuss something with Jiraiya (beat up him for peeping at her in the bath) and brought her team along. At the time, he was a chunin and she a genin. They gravitated towards each other by virtue of being the most normal person on their respective teams. (Later, she realizes that no Uchiha can be called normal including herself.)

3. She is one of the few people who can make Jiraiya blush. Kushina, who has a repertoire of curses more extensive than Hidan's, asked Mikoto to teach her after witnessing the verbal dressing-down that Mikoto gave her teacher for wandering too near to the bath house.

4. Not surprisingly, Kushina and Mikoto are banned from associating with Anko unless there is a mission involved. They have broken this ban several times. The last time they did it, the police were called in. Fugaku was not amused when he turned up for work and found the Hokage posting bail for both of their wives. It is still unclear what exactly happened but there was lots of alcohol involved along with the original Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Chouza still can't look Anko in the eye without blushing. One day, she'll tell Naruto and Sasuke this story. She knows they won't believe her but that's OK because she has the photos to prove it. The fact she was only twelve at the time has nothing to do with it.

5. Her greatest secret is that she used to have a crush on Sakumo. His disgrace and subsequent suicide affected her badly although at that point, she was already engaged and had gotten over her crush years ago. She hides it all behind a smile though.

6. She was the top kunoichi of her year and is still considered one of the best kunoichi ever produced by Konoha. Unlike Tsume and Yoshino, she excelled at traditional kunoichi arts. Tenten would be impressed at the number of places she knew to conceal weapons on your body. She could name ten major poisons used by each village, hide five senbon as hairpins, use chopsticks, origami and flower arrangements as deadly weapons, and still be underestimated because she had few actual jutsu to her name.

7. Like her team mate Dewei, she has never been interested in summoning. She is duly impressed the first time Minato manages it in battle though. Training was a different matter. She swears he was fighting back tears as his first attempt produced the smallest tadpole she'd ever seen.

8. Jiraiya acted as her father during her wedding. She doesn't know what happened to her real one, only that his relationship with her mother was considered scandalous and her mother's reputation didn't recover from it.

9. Her teammates are her family. All of them are only children and found it hard to adjust to competition. Dewei is the lazy older brother (his surname isn't Nara but his mother's was), Minato is the occasionally hyper younger brother (Once someone let him have sugar. Konoha barely survived.), and she is the suffering sister, stuck between them.

10. She is the last to fall. Minato dies in fire and Dewei in ice. She cannot bring herself to speak at either of their funerals. Jiraiya speaks at all of them though. Each time he rushes back to Konoha, he wonders if he had been a better teacher that he wouldn't have to watch them being buried. When he appears at hers, people have almost forgotten that he was her sensei. But then he finds it hard to reconcile the smiling woman with the foul-mouthed girl he'd taught.

* * *

I have sinned. I have no idea where foul-mouthed!Mikoto came from though.

Dewei's existence and appearance are canon but I made everything else up including his name (Chinese). As for his mother being a Nara, when I first saw him, I thought he looked like ShikaTen spawn. So his mother became a Nara and his father is Tenten's cousin twice removed or something. In reflection, he actually looks more like Asuma but oh well.

Hanami is a type of dango. She might be Anko's mother or aunt. It doesn't really matter.

It isn't canon that Mikoto was taught by Jiraiya but the black-haired girl in the flashback of Minato and Jiraiya could be a younger her for all we know. And plus, Jiraiya-trained!Mikoto is too interesting to pass up.

Anko kinda took over 5 but don't worry, she was just there to take pictures. Mikoto was too responsible to let her drink. She was glad of that when she was able to leave before the police arrived.

Come on, no one's thought about how dangerous the Yellow Flash would be on sugar. Seriously?


End file.
